36 V trolling motor Breaker Question

[Bill2e]

So i have a 36V Ultrex

There is a 60 AMP breaker at one of the battery terminals

There is also an inline 24V - 50 Amp breaker in one of the jumper wires.

They question is WHY?

Shouldnt i be able to get rid of the 50 AMP?

[catdude28]

BCB puts breakers on all of the jumper wires. You can get rid of them. You only need the 60 amp breaker connected to the positive wire to the troller.

[lpugh]

BassCat usually runs two circuits to the front and both of need circuit protection. They can be changed to one though

[Bassman25]

With the ultrex and a 36v system you really should actually run three breakers. A 60 amp at the power wire, then a 50 amp at jumper one and a 50 amp at jumper two. That’s how mine is setup from the factory.

[catdude28]

This has been discussed numerous times over the years on the electrical forum. BCB (and perhaps other builders) put breakers, called short-stops, on the jumper wires. They are not necessary and can be removed if desired. I removed mine. To me, they are only another source of potential failure. Here is a post from John Jones. Catfan, another moderator over there, also has commented the same.

Jonestrollingmotor


Electrical/Wiring/Trolling Motors ModeratorJoin DateJan 2005LocationTexarkanaPosts22,987

#1501-04-2019, 10:37 AM

Originally Posted by BassCatKev
The breaker in my pic above has no reset switch. I just went to garage and felt around it to be 100% certain. No reset switch. I do have one manually resetable circuits breaker for my tm batteries. Pic attached. But I'm trying understand how to deal with these smaller gray boxes I have in-line with the trolling batteries.
http://oi68.tinypic.com/vxiw42.jpg



If these are factory Basscat they are manually reset. I can see the button on the one pictured on the end just above the right connection. By law, boat mfgs are not allowed to use auto reset (are weren't allowed). If you have a 4 wire system, you will have two breakers, one in each positive wire going to the front. If you have a two wire system, Basscat will put one in the positive wire going to the front and one in each of the jumper wires connecting battery to battery. Those are not needed since it's a series circuity. I would eliminate all those type breakers (typically called shortstops) and go with one 60A that has a cutoff function.
John

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[Bass Cat Boats]

Let someone put jumper cables on the wrong positions in that series of circuit and it gets interesting quick. Which is why BCB uses inline breakers on the 24 and 36 series loop. It has burned boats in the past when they used no breaker. Some boats of VERY famous anglers have been at issue.

[BassCatKev]

Bill here is a recent thread I started a few weeks ago. It gets a little off topic in spots but is very much discussion related to your question. Mr. Jones goes into much detail about how it's ok to remove them AS LONG AS you keep the 60A breaker on tm battery that leads up front.

http://www.bbcboards.net/showthread.php?t=951798

[Jonestrollingmotor]

Let someone put jumper cables on the wrong positions in that series of circuit and it gets interesting quick. Which is why BCB uses inline breakers on the 24 and 36 series loop. It has burned boats in the past when they used no breaker. Some boats of VERY famous anglers have been at issue.

If jumper cables in the wrong position (pos to neg on both cables instead of pos to pos and neg to neg), the breaker isn't going to keep bad things from happening, since it is going to happen through the jumper cables. Even if they are connected to each end of a 36V circuit going to a 12V cranking battery, breakers aren't going to stop it -- it will simply transfer 36V to the 12V battery. "If" you tried to jump one trolling battery to another trolling battery without disconnecting the jumper, then you would get a large arc and a breaker would trip, however having a 50A breaker in a 60A circuit is useless since the 50A will trip before 60A.

[Louie]

I was thinking I had an issue with mine the other day as I lost all voltage at the bow. (2017 puma) I found a wire that the lug connector was attached poorly. I still replaced the inline breakers as well. Why does bass cat solder on the lugs, and not even crimp them? Also how do they go about doing that? I'm tempted to pull all my wires and re work the ends some appear to have good connections but none are crimped. Also some can be wiggled. The one I found in question pulled right off with little to no force.

[lpugh]

I prefer crimping over soldered as well. For good crimp with quality cable ends you will need a hydraulic crimping tool to do a decent job. Hammer crimpers wont getter done

[SCOTT196]

Is 50 amp breaker for positive lead big enough for 36 volt ? I dont see a 60 amp on basscat site under breakers, largest is 50.

[lpugh]

Should be a sixty as your unit will pull a little more than fifty amps at max power if it has good connections and the proper cable size